Tenacity
by INMH
Summary: Focuses on Jimmy’s earlier life. One father, one mother, five step-fathers, eight schools and a rap-sheet longer than some hard-core cons. Part crossover with GTA Vice City


Tenacity

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: General/Drama

Summary: Focuses on Jimmy's earlier life. One father, one mother, five step-fathers, eight schools and a rap-sheet longer than some hard-core cons. [Part crossover with GTA Vice City

Author's Note: Dunno… Just wanted to do something like this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bully or GTA: Vice City. They both belong, respectively, to Rockstar Vancouver.

--

Jimmy was the son of Tommy Vercetti- The Harwood Butcher, who killed all those people in Liberty city in the 70's and got off with fifteen years for manslaughter (as opposed to the death penalty) because of his connections with the Forelli family. He was the mob boss that had tangled with his former boss, Sonny Forelli, and wound up becoming the top drug lord in Vice City. All in all, not a man a lot of people would be proud to call 'dad'.

His- Jimmy's- mother was Carol Hopkins; a woman that had accumulated a few choice names for herself as well, depending on which class of people in Vice City you happened to be polling.

The rich didn't call her anything- she was too low-classed to be mentioned, like just speaking of her would give them an air of belonging to the gutter. The 'good' families called her 'loose' at best. The 'not-so-good' families called her a tramp, and the harder-core, really down-on-their-luck and all-around unpleasant families avoided beating around the bush altogether and just called her 'The whore'.

Jimmy was born in August, on the fifteenth, in 1991. His mother and father had long since ended that which could be loosely referred to as a relationship between themselves. Tommy did not press Carol to see Jimmy because, in complete honesty, he had not wanted a kid. Carol hadn't either, but she wouldn't get an abortion nor give the boy up for adoption, so she had a son. Her less than wholesome activities continued for a year, until she deemed that she needed a week or two to herself to 'find herself'.

So, poor Tommy, who'd barely laid eyes on Jimmy before, was suddenly dumped with his kid. Bearing in mind, Tommy had zero, none, no, _finité_ experience with small children- or any children at all, for that matter. Remember that he hadn't wanted a child for many reasons- his general lack of interaction with children being one of them.

Ken attempted to aid his friend in his attempt to care for his son. This led to several arguments (Tommy yelling at Ken) and one of them triumphing ("HAH! IN YOUR FACE VERCETTI- I TOLD YOU HE NEEDED A DIAPER!"

"You wanna medal or something, wise-ass?")

In this early point in his life, Jimmy met a lot of people that, had his mother known his father was showing him to, would never have left him in Tommy's care again. Colonel Cortez, his daughter Mercedes (who thought Jimmy was just about the most adorable thing in the world), Kent Paul, Avery Carrington, and a porno star named Candy Suxxx (who, like Mercedes, seemed to think that Jimmy was an absolutely darling little baby).

Tommy was unaccustomed to having to care for someone other than himself with so much attentiveness. But, while he would lie like a dog if anyone accused him of it, he actually had a soft spot for his son. This may not sound surprising to some, but remember that Tommy is a pretty hard-core crime lord (who just happens to wear a Hawaiian shirt…)

One morning, however, something bad happened. Tommy and Ken left Jimmy unattended in Ken's office for no more than three minutes. Three minutes. Upon returning into the room, there was a significant lack of infant- and a window. The scoop: apparently, someone wishing to stir up trouble with Tommy (most likely on another crime lord's request) had kidnapped his son. Bastards must've been stalking him for weeks.

They (Tommy and Ken) tracked down the kidnapper, had a stereotypical shootout in a warehouse (in which Tommy took a bullet to the shoulder) and Jimmy was safely retrieved, completely unharmed. Tommy's wound wasn't particularly serious- superficial enough to take care of it without going to a doctor (no need to bring unnecessary attention to himself).

Ken jokingly said that Jimmy would never be able to claim that Tommy had never done anything for him.

When they returned to the house, who was there but Carol, there to finally retrieve Jimmy. Tommy and Ken- it shouldn't be necessary to tell you this- did not breathe a word to Carol about what had transpired only hours before. It was with surprising reluctance that Tommy handed Jimmy over to his mother- and even more surprising was the fact that Jimmy resisted just a little, as though knowing that he would not likely see Tommy again any time soon.

-

And in that respect, he was right.

Two years later, Jimmy was three years old, and his mother was still straddling that fine line between 'slut' and 'prostitute'. She'd managed to have quite the active social life while raising an infant- something even the most well-off mothers of America were still trying to figure out. While Carol wasn't what you'd call 'Grade-A mothering material', she did care about Jimmy enough to realize that he needed another parent- a steady parent.

So, leaving (Tommy flat-out called it 'dumping') Jimmy with Tommy and Ken again- after being unable to refrain from making a 'Gay guys' crack to the two of them ("If I am, then being with you made me that way, you tramp!")- she took off to find a steady man. Jimmy did not object; his memories of his father from their first visit were hazy, but he did have them.

Being a toddler and being able to speak (however limited his vocabulary was) definitely moved some of the difficulty from caretaking. In that time, Tommy, swearing that he never thought he'd be the one doing it, taught Jimmy how to use a real toilet, helped him get through a couple of Dr. Seuss books, and added a couple of new words to his vocabulary that he was never to repeat around mommy.

Husband one was met during that excursion. When Jimmy was returned to his mother and they went to their current home in South Carolina (quite disappointed in the idea that he wouldn't be seeing his father any time soon), being three, he had little knowledge or care of his mother's social affairs, and set about conquering the rest of those elusive Dr. Seuss books so as to impress Tommy during their next visit.

When Jimmy was four, a revolutionary concept was introduced to him:

Step-fathers.

The bottom line- mommy was going to marry the nice man she'd been dating for nearly a year (a damn record in the eyes of any who knew her), and Jimmy would have a new daddy- a step-daddy. Jimmy was puzzled and not particularly fond of the idea. He had a daddy that he was perfectly content with, and saw no need to get a new one. Husband one was nice to Jimmy- that wasn't the issue, so much as that Jimmy thought that Husband one becoming his father meant that Tommy would no longer be his father. It was an idea that, while in a young and innocent age, you could say he really disliked- even hated.

Regardless of his feelings, the wedding proceeded as planned. It seemed that Husband one could sense Jimmy's resent to him. The man was mousy and insecure, and chances were that Carol had only married him for his money, but he was still a generally good human being (something that Jimmy would eventually come to appreciate). He managed to explain to Jimmy that he had no intention of taking his father's place, and that Tommy was still indeed Jimmy's father, and always would be. The explanation sufficed, and Jimmy was more easy-going towards Husband one from then on.

But 'from then-on' wasn't very long. Because not long before Jimmy's fifth birthday, his mother and Husband one split. He wasn't certain why- he hadn't noticed anything between them that would suggest unrest- but they did, and he and his mother were on their own again. Oh well- he was used to it. Too bad, though, since he was just starting to warm up to Husband one.

-

When Jimmy turned five, not too long after his mother's break-up with Husband one, he ended up seeing his father again. Already he was starting to develop his innate talent for recognizing patterns; it seemed that his mother intended to arrange a visit to his father every two years. Enough to keep Jimmy happy, but not often enough for Tommy's questionable influence to affect him.

It was on this visit that Tommy gave his son the first practical advice he'd ever given him other than 'don't ever, ever, ever touch any white powder you see in Daddy's house'. He probably chose age five because it was an age where Jimmy was, A, smart enough to understand what he was being told, and B, young enough to listen and have it stick. His advice:

"First: It's not quantity, it's quality. It doesn't matter how many friends you have in your life, how many people like you- it matters who they are. I want you to find one friend in your life that you can trust with anything. Someone you'd trust with your life and not worry. It has to be a two-way street, though; you have to let them know that _they_ can trust _you_ with their life and not be let down.

"Second: Not everyone who acts friendly to you is a friend. When you choose that one friend, you need to put them through a real gauntlet before you go putting your life in their hands. I had this one guy I really thought I could trust- I thought he was my friend. But then he turned around and stabbed me in the back. He got what he had coming to him, and I don't intend to make that sort of mistake again.

"Third: Don't lower yourself so easily. If someone's being a real _ass_, try to take the higher road first. Try to beat them at their own game without sinking to their level. If there's no other option than lowering yourself a little, though, then go for it."

Anyone who knew Tommy might've laughed and called you crazy if you said that he'd given such a sentimental talk to his little boy. Tough old Tommy? The Harwood Butcher? Right. Hell hasn't frozen over yet, sweetheart.

"And Jimmy?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"Remember that white powder thing, too. Never touch it, no matter where you see it. I'm not kidding."

-

Husband two was unexpected. Jimmy, at age seven, had grown accustomed to his mother's ways, and had even managed to work out a pattern: She dated a man for a few nights, introduced him to Jimmy and all that, and then dumped him. Jimmy, every time, had only seen the man once. After the first few times, he simply stopped asking, "Hey, what happened to so-and-so?"

Then, one night she broke the pattern. Jimmy had met Husband two a few nights ago on Thursday, and- on Saturday- Guess who was back? Jimmy was surprised; had he been older, he might've realized the implications of his mother breaking the pattern so suddenly. But being seven, he merely accepted what he saw and rolled with it.

Husband two was different from Husband one in a way that Jimmy disliked. Husband one may have been a total doormat and a wimp, but at least he was kind to Jimmy. Husband two reminded Jimmy of the weasels in the fables that the teacher would read to his class; thin face, sly, constantly twitching, acting like he was up to something. He was what Tommy would've called 'a conniving, sneaky little rat-bastard' (One of those phrases that he warned Jimmy to never repeat in front of his mother).

Ken would've had an opinion of Husband two as well, being a lawyer; he would've said that he was someone to watch out for, someone to keep an eye on, someone you did not want angry at you. The type that looked like he would smile like a snake to your face, then stab you in the back. Untrustworthy, dangerous, and someone to never let out of his sight.

Jimmy, trusting the untold wisdom of his two main male role models, was wary of Husband two. He tried not to do anything to anger or irritate Husband two in any way, so as to not need to worry about being 'stabbed in the back'. But even then, he started to develop what would become another one of his innate talents- his unintentionally scientific precision. He made observations, analyzed them, and worked out a plan of action based on the conclusions.

Husband two was acting suspiciously. It seemed so blatant to Jimmy, and yet his mother didn't seem to notice it at all. But then, it was entirely possible that she _did_ see it, and simply ignored it. Jimmy was like most children in the respect that he was very curious. Like most children, he stuck his nose in to things he wasn't necessarily supposed to. Unlike other children, though, he seemed to know just when to pull back before being bitten.

He stuck his nose into Husband two's business, and in the process, discovered some packets of what appeared to be sugar in the basement that Jimmy and his mother never went into, since Husband two claimed that there were rats. Jimmy smelled a rat all right- _one_ rat. He didn't know the significance of all this white stuff, but his father had given him very distinct advice in this field- 'Stay away from it". Jimmy showed it to his mother on the hunch that something wasn't right.

And thus ended Husband two. It was probably a good thing, too, because a week later he was arrested for possession of countless grams of crack cocaine.

-

Husband three was out the door nearly as quickly as he'd came- which, honestly, would've surprised Jimmy if you'd told him it would happen. Oh, Husband three seemed nice enough- smooth, handsome, rich. Even though Jimmy had had the feeling that Husband three would be sticking around for a while, he knew there had to be a catch- he could not be so lucky to get a step-father without a flaw.

He was right. The flaw made itself apparent pretty quickly: Husband three was a drunk. And worst of all, Husband three was a _mean_ drunk. Rattle-snake mean. The type of mean that made young Jimmy retreat to his room and stay the hell out of the way all night, just to make sure they didn't cross paths. This method did not work for long.

One night, there was an argument. For once, his mother was not the instigator. Husband three had started it, and they were really getting into it. For a boy that'd seen a lot in his short life, Jimmy was chewing his nails off. He kept expecting to hear a slap, a crash, a loud thumping noise. As the cacophony grew, so did his fear for his mother. When the fight reached its pique, Jimmy simply couldn't stand it anymore- the courage his father had instilled in him bared its head, and he ran outside.

To make a long story short, Jimmy only remembered a few things after waking up on the floor: Running into the room, exchanging a few coarse words with Husband three, and a splitting pain in his head. His mother said that Husband three had seized a whiskey bottle and smashed it over Jimmy's head. Well, that was it for him- She kicked Husband three the hell out, and quickly woke Jimmy and brought him to the hospital.

She didn't lie to the nurses- her soon-to-be ex-husband had smashed her son on the head with a whiskey bottle, and she wanted the police on his ass as quickly as possible. They stitched up Jimmy's head as carefully as possible, and had to hack away some hair in order to do it. Upon going home the next day (and thankfully, not having to go to school), he deemed his hair was a total wreck; so he cut it. All of it.

When his mother returned home that day, she saw his shaved head and her eyes widened. The shock in her eyes did not show in her voice. "You cut your hair."

All he did was nod.

-

By the time Jimmy hit the fifth grade (age ten), his mother's… _loose_ tendencies became the subject of interest for the local soccer moms. These women in particular were a group of gossip-hungry-holier-than-thou-if-my-son-gets-anything-lower-than-an-A-I'll-beat-him-with-a-belt jackals. They knew everything about everyone, and heaven forbid they find out about one of your personal issues because if they did, it'd be around town in record time.

They were the ones that always showed up at the school sports games, chaperoned the field trips, came in to help with holiday parties, the works. So, naturally, Jimmy had some time to observe them. Seeing them and their vulture-like tendency to pick at rumors like a scavenger might at a dead carcass made him oddly relieved that he and his mother didn't fit in. He'd rather be a bad-ass little freak than deal with that sort of incessant crap.

Jimmy hadn't liked them in the first place, so he _really_ learned to dislike them when they started touching on his personal family matters. The soccer moms tittered about Carol Hopkins' _questionable_ behavior with men. About how she'd been married three times, and the third one had nearly cracked her little boy's head open with a whiskey bottle. Jimmy felt a stab of indignant anger at that- one of them was probably married to one of the police officers handling the case. One officer that probably ignored the 'you are not to disclose the details of the case subjects to ANYONE' rule.

This further dragged Jimmy into the spotlight. They said that's where the scars on his head had come from (true) and that he'd probably shaved his head from the emotional pain (false). They said that his mother had been married three times (true), and that he was a troubled, lonely child that probably had a number of mental problems (false). Bear in mind, this was not Vice City, Florida, where _everyone_ had at least one gruesome scar on a visible part of their body. Hell, it was like a rite of passage down there.

This, however, was a (1)Stepford-esque WASP community in a 'good' part of town in Pennsylvania (Yes, they had moved again- they did that a lot). The type of town where 'good' meant 'everyone's happy, nobody's violent, everyone knows everyone', rather than the Vice City version of 'good', meaning 'people don't get shot- much'. If you so much as _appeared_ to have a scar on a visible part of your body, you were whispered about until the cows came home.

And of course, the kids knew pretty quickly. Boys play video-game in den next to kitchen where mom is talking while the girls are upstairs playing with their dolls; typical. The boys hear the rumors, but don't particularly care unless they hear a classmates name involved. A girl hears a name, they bring the gossip to school and spread it like the flu, using it as ammo to talk crap and hurt feelings. A boy hears just the right thing, and they bully the hell out of the classmate in question.

And so, one of these _brilliant_ boys decided to work on Jimmy's nerves.

Unfortunately, Jimmy only had one nerve left.

"Hey, Hopkins," The boy said in the cafeteria one day. "I hear your mom's a slut." Everyone tensed. Jimmy froze. Took a sip of his milk, put it on the table, picked up his tray and smashed it across the boy's head.

That was Jimmy's first expulsion. His mother was furious, and when she called Tommy down in Vice City, he was furious too. Jimmy found this distinctly ironic: Here was a man that was constantly involved in illicit activities such as drug dealing, stealing, violence and murder, and he was pissed about his kid getting expelled for whacking a kid in the face with a tray for calling his mother a slut.

There could be two explanations for this: Tommy, A, did not disagree with the fact that his former girlfriend (the term to be used _very_ loosely in this context) was indeed a huge slut, or B, was not fond of his son starting up the same pattern of expulsions and troubles that he'd had when he was a kid. While he'd turned out to be a crime lord, it could be argued about whether or not he wanted the same sort of future for Jimmy. He wanted him to be a stand-up guy- a guy who worked an acceptable job in an acceptable city, and be a father whose son would see him every day, rather than every two years.

-

School number two was a few towns away from the other. This one seemed to be a little more understanding of the fact that Jimmy had been blatantly provoked by the other boy- but only a _little_ more understanding. The Principal said out-right that he wasn't going to tolerate any shenanigans from Jimmy, and Jimmy didn't intend on giving any. He knew he'd screwed up big time, and also knew that his mother was liable to kill him if he screwed up again.

Now, let's not mistake something here- It wasn't as though Jimmy had just out-of-the-blue suddenly become violent. He'd gotten into his first fist-fight at age six, and progressed from there. The reason he'd never been busted before was because the fights were about- mainly- pride. And none of the boys Jimmy fought (and beat) were about to go crying home to mommy because they'd been beaten up. Besides- their prides would never allow them to admit that they'd had their butts handed to them on a silver platter by a boy that was, in general, smaller than them.

Well, in this school, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone going on about his mom. Word had spread from his former school about the incident with the tray, and it seemed no one was aching for a repeat performance. And for a while, it seemed as though Jimmy would cruise through the rest of the year without a problem.

Yeah. Right.

What he did not know was that the boy from his old school had some friends at this school- friends that did not like people smashing their other friends faces in with lunch trays. They did not take a violent approach to Jimmy, however, no- being violent would get them nailed too. Making trouble was okay- getting into it was not. No, they set up poor Jimmy.

There was a pep-rally at the end of school every year, and to make a simple story even simpler, the boys spray-painted something obscene on one of the banners and accused Jimmy of doing it. It was their word against Jimmy's;

Guess who won?

-

After the incident at the second school, and their humble advice to have Jimmy 'pursue other academic opportunities', it came time for a visit with Tommy again. Jimmy had been half-afraid that his mother would refuse to send him as punishment for being knocked out of another school; but instead, she'd jumped on the opportunity to get away from him for a while. He was still unable to discern if she believed that he was innocent or not.

Upon arriving in Vice City- for the first time ever- Jimmy was thoroughly chewed out by Tommy. Jimmy managed to get out his side of the story, but Tommy was not swayed. He said the truth and nothing but the truth- if Jimmy hadn't hit the other kid in the first place, then those boys would never have gone after him. Jimmy argued back, saying that the little punk had bad-mouthed his mother and had it coming to him.

Tommy then had to take in the fact that, while he did not particularly care for Carol, Jimmy did. And if someone bad-mouthed her, even if Jimmy knew there was some truth to the accusation, he would defend her. And there was no way in hell that he was running away from the sorry bastard that was trying to pick a fight. And while he wasn't certain it was appropriate, he felt just a little proud of Jimmy for not backing down from a challenge, even when the consequences could- and would- be ugly.

Here was when Tommy gave Jimmy some more… Advice, I suppose you could say. "All right kid, look- I don't want to hear about you starting any fights. I don't want to hear about you getting involved in any fights." He paused. "… But I don't want to hear about you running away from any either. And keep in mind; you don't always need your fists to win a fight."

-

School three was accompanied by Husband four. The guy was all-around unpleasant, and seemed to add more stress to Jimmy's home life rather than alleviating it. He was mean as a snake (when he was sober, mind you), a total perv, and an all-around creep. He was also rich, so ding-ding-ding, check please, we have a winner.

Jimmy was now more convinced than ever that his mother's taste in men _sucked_ (excluding his own father, of course- he couldn't ask for a better father, and never would.)

He was eleven now, and couldn't really recall Husband one and Husband two, since they'd come and gone when he was younger. Husband three he remembered, unfortunately, quite clearly. Hell, he had scars if he ever needed a reminder. He went on and off with his hair- one minute it was thick, the next it was gone. His mother was accustomed to it by then.

He knew the marriage was doomed as soon as it began. Husband four and Jimmy's mother were constantly arguing, and Jimmy had no doubt that Husband four was causing her just as much stress as he was to Jimmy. He could only hope that her patience would crack quickly and they'd be rid of him as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, this didn't happen. They'd hit a rocky financial point, and couldn't afford to dump him just yet. In retrospect, however, it might've been better to- dealing with his new step-father all summer made Jimmy quite a bit surlier when he entered his new school in September. It was just as well- this school wasn't as 'upstanding' as the rest, and the some of the kids there were every bit as unpleasant as Husband four.

This, of course, led to more conflict. He was fighting more often, and it was sometimes about things that weren't altogether important. Sometimes, to get back at the kids that harassed him, he would either harass them back or maybe vandalize their locker. He'd typically write something obscene on it in paint, or maybe just smash it up a little with a bat from the gym.

This school was a little more lenient then the other two schools. Maybe they were more tolerant, or maybe they were just too busy with so many miscreants to deal with them all. But, eventually, they were forced to expel Jimmy for being so unruly to the other students and teachers. This school, however, was in the habit of expelling students, so rather than having a hand-written document stating Jimmy's misdeeds, it was really more of a form letter with the Principal's name signed at the bottom.

His mother skipped the lecture and just grounded him.

Husband four called him trash.

His father didn't call, and Jimmy didn't need him to; he knew what he'd hear, and he didn't want to hear it:

_I am so disappointed in you._

-

School four, School five and School six all went by just like School three. Jimmy refused to take anyone's crap anymore, and was capable of getting provoked into a fight in the blink of an eye. He swore, he skipped classes and pissed off countless people. Any counselor (if he'd ever bothered with them) might've said that Jimmy's continued bad behavior was because he was angry with himself for disappointing his parents- mainly his father.

You _know_ when a crime lord says that you've done something bad, you've done something damn near horrible.

Regardless of being expelled so many times, however, Tommy did nothing to indicate that he loved Jimmy any less, and after the fourth expulsion, he just tried to avoid the subject altogether. Their times together were noticeably more enjoyable when they avoided the subject of school.

By School six, Husband four was gone. Bastard had hit Jimmy's mother, making Jimmy jump in, causing a real mess of a fight that nearly drew the police into it. But he was gone in the end, money or no money, and by the end of School six, Jimmy was nearly fourteen. His mother was, not surprisingly, having some trouble finding a school that would take him. She couldn't afford a boarding school's tuition on her own, and she would be _damned_ before she asked Tommy for help, so it was back to the first public school she could find.

By now, it'd been maybe seven years since Jimmy had last cried.

School seven was the last public school Jimmy would go to. And ironically enough, he only went for a week before he was expelled. Why was he expelled, you may ask?

He punched a teacher.

The guy grabbed him, made a threatening motion, and Jimmy reacted accordingly. So not only was he expelled, but an assault charge was added to his record at the police station. Jimmy's mother was at the end of her rope, but thankfully, Husband five (who'd rolled in by now) had the money for the solution.

And so our story ends (begins?) with Jimmy being driven to the new private school that his mother was dumping him at (not like it would be the first time she dumped him somewhere) and ran off with her new husband. Oh well- she and Jimmy had been fighting so much more often lately. It'd be nice to get away from her.

Jimmy laid in the back of the car as his mother tried to get him to talk.

Husband five wasn't mean per se- he was arrogant. Snobbish, a little. He wasn't high class, really, just sort of had illusions of grandeur. Oh well- at least he wouldn't be seeing him at all. Jimmy figured he'd never see Husband five again, what with his mother's track record.

They pulled up to an old-looking building with a brick wall surrounding it.

"Here we are, boy- Bullworth Academy."

Oh well- just another challenge.

He'd deal with it.

--

1: From the book/movies "The Stepford Wives", in the identical white houses, happy families everywhere, father works, mother stays home and cares for the children and house.

WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant You may recall Jimmy calling Derby this after handing his _ass_ to him at the boss fight with the Preppies.


End file.
